Historic First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi, USA (founded 1837) is the largest Presbyterian congregation in the State and one of the largest in the United States. A flagship congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), First Church played a significant role in establishing the PCA (the largest conservative Presbyterian denomination in the English-speaking world), Reformed Theological Seminary, and Reformed University Ministries (a nationwide campus fellowship).

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

I’d be hard pressed to identify an author I trust more on the subject of sanctification than Jerry Bridges. What a gift the Lord has given him for articulating the importance of the gospel of Christ for daily growth in grace. His books have positively impacted the souls of countless believers, and I know many of you can chart your own spiritual growth through books like The Pursuit of Holiness, The Practice of Godliness, Trusting God, and The Discipline of Grace.

His newest release, Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate, is now available through Navpress, and I want to encourage you to pick up a copy very soon. Bridges believes that conservative Christians have been preoccupied for some time with all the major sins of society but have conveniently looked the other way when it comes to the subtle, “acceptable sins” of their own lives and communities. This book is an attempt at correcting this tendency among Christians by helping us become aware of these "acceptable sins," so we can repent of them and experience God's great mercy and grace that covers ALL our sins.

We’re going through Respectable Sins in discipleship group on Wed. night this quarter, and it is already proving to be a convicting read for us who struggle with the infamous pointing-the finger-at-everyone-else-but-myself tendency!

Here’s a sample from the first section of the book:

“Sin is sin. Even those sins that I call ‘the acceptable sins of the saints’ – those sins that we tolerate in our lives – are serious in God’s eyes. Our religious pride, our critical attitudes, our unkind speech about others, our impatience and anger, even our anxiety (see Philippians 4:6); all of these are serious in the sight of God… Yes, the whole idea of sin may have disappeared from our culture. It may have been softened in many of our churches so as not to make the audience uncomfortable. And sad to say, the concept of sin among many conservative Christians has been essentially redefined to cover only the obviously gross sins of our society. The result, then, is that for many morally upright believers, the awareness of personal sin has effectively disappeared from their consciences. But it has not disappeared from the sight of God. Rather, all sin, both the so-called respectable sins of the saints, which we too often tolerate, and the flagrant sins of society, which we are quick to condemn, are a disregard for the law of God and are reprehensible in His sight. Both deserve the curse of God.” (p.21-22)